Search results for: economic evaluation

Authors: Aravindkumar B. Harwalkar, S. S. Awanti

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Use of fly ash as a supplementary cementing material in large volumes can bring both technological and economic benefits for concrete industry. In this investigation mix proportions for high volume fly ash concrete were determined at cement replacement levels of 50%, 55%, 60% and 65% with low calcium fly ash. Flexural and compressive strengths of different mixes were measured at ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. Flexural strength of composite section prepared from pavement quality and lean high volume fly ash concrete was determined at the age of 28 days. High volume fly ash concrete mixes exhibited higher rate of strength gain and age factors than corresponding reference concrete mixes. The optimum cement replacement level for pavement quality concrete was found to be 60%. The consideration of bond between pavement quality and lean of high volume fly ash concrete will be beneficial in design of rigid pavements.

Keywords: Keywords—Composite section, Compressive strength, Flexural strength, Fly ash.

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Authors: M. Irannezhad, E. H. N. Gashti, U. Moback, B. Kløve

Abstract:

Climate change would cause mean sea level to rise +1 m by 2100. To prevent coastal floods resulting from the sea level rising, different flood control structures have been built, with acceptable protection levels. Gothenburg with the River Göta älv located on the southwest coast of Sweden is a vulnerable city to the accelerated rises in mean sea level. We evaluated using a sea barrage in the River Göta älv to protect Gothenburg during this century. The highest sea level was estimated to 2.95 m above the current mean sea level by 2100. To verify flood protection against such high sea levels, both barriers have to be closed. To prevent high water level in the River Göta älv reservoir, the barriers would be open when the sea level is low. The suggested flood control structures would successfully protect the city from flooding events during this century.

Keywords: Climate change, Flood control structures, Gothenburg, Sea level rising, Water level model.

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Authors: Stephen Akinlabi, Mukul Shukla, Esther Akinlabi, Marwala Tshilidzi

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This paper reports the evolving properties of a 3 mm low carbon steel plate after Laser Beam Forming achieve this objective, the chemical analyse material and the formed components were carried thereafter both were characterized through microhardness profiling microstructural evaluation and tensile testing. showed an increase in the elemental concentration of the component when compared to the as received attributed to the enhancement property of the LBF process Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and the Vickers the formed component shows an increase when compared to the as received material, this was attributed to strain hardening and grain refinement brought about by the LBF process. The microstructure of the as received steel consists of equiaxed ferrit that of the formed component exhibits elongated orming process (LBF). To es of the as received out and compared; profiling, The chemical analyses formed material; this can be process. The microhardness of ferrite and pearlite while grains.

Keywords: Laser beam forming, deformation , deformation, elongated grains

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Authors: Nor Azuana Ramli, Mohd Tahir Ismail, Hooy Chee Wooi

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Developing a stable early warning system (EWS) model that is capable to give an accurate prediction is a challenging task. This paper introduces k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) method which never been applied in predicting currency crisis before with the aim of increasing the prediction accuracy. The proposed k-NN performance depends on the choice of a distance that is used where in our analysis; we take the Euclidean distance and the Manhattan as a consideration. For the comparison, we employ three other methods which are logistic regression analysis (logit), back-propagation neural network (NN) and sequential minimal optimization (SMO). The analysis using datasets from 8 countries and 13 macro-economic indicators for each country shows that the proposed k-NN method with k = 4 and Manhattan distance performs better than the other methods.

Keywords: Currency crisis, k-nearest neighbour method, logit, neural network.

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Authors: Guillermo Romero-Jiménez, Víctor Jiménez-Sánchez, Edgardo J. Roldán-Villasana

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This paper describes the development of a control system model using a graphical software tool. This control system is part of an operator training simulator developed for the National Training Center for Operators of Ixtapantongo (CNCAOI, acronym according to its name in Spanish language) of the Mexico-s Federal Commission of Electricity, CFE). The Department of Simulation of the Electrical Research Institute (IIE) developed this simulator using as reference the Unit I of the Combined Cycle Power Plant El Sauz, located at the centre of Mexico. The first step in the project was the developing of the Gas Turbine System and its control system simulator. The Turbo Gas simulator was finished and delivered to CNCAOI in March 2007 for commercial operation. This simulator is a high-fidelity real time dynamic simulator built and tested for accurate operation over the entire load range. The simulator was used primarily for operator training although it has been used for procedure development and evaluation of plant transients.

Keywords: Operators training, Power plant simulator, simulation environment.

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Authors: Niaz Gharavi, Hexin Zhang, Yanjun Xie

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The timber beam end effect in the torsion test is evaluated using binocular stereo vision system. It is recommended by BS EN 408:2010+A1:2012 to exclude a distance of two to three times of cross-sectional thickness (b) from ends to avoid the end effect; whereas, this study indicates that this distance is not sufficiently far enough to remove this effect in slender cross-sections. The shear modulus of six timber beams with different aspect ratios is determined at the various angles and cross-sections. The result of this experiment shows that the end affected span of each specimen varies depending on their aspect ratios. It is concluded that by increasing the aspect ratio this span will increase. However, by increasing the distance from the ends to the values greater than 6b, the shear modulus trend becomes constant and end effect will be negligible. Moreover, it is concluded that end affected span is preferred to be depth-dependent rather than thickness-dependant.

Keywords: End effect, structural-size torsion test, shear properties, timber engineering, binocular stereo vision.

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Authors: Tosin Osasona

Abstract:

The Nigeria Police Force bears the constitutional mandate as the primary policing agency for the protection of life and property within Nigeria; however, the police have an historical ill-reputation for corruption, ineptitude and impunity. Using the institutional theory of police as the framework of analysis, the paper argues that the performance of the police in Nigeria mirrors the dominant political, social and economic institutions and the structural environment of the Nigerian state. The article puts in perspective the deliberate political decision to underfund the police, leaving officers of the force the extra task of foraging for funds to undertake the duty that the Nigeria state primarily exists for; the article further explores the nexus between corruption in the police in Nigeria and the issue of funding. The article finds that the Nigerian state, by deliberately under-funding the police, while expecting the agency to perform its duties, has indirectly sanctioned the corruption of the force and approved the cooption of the institution of police and policing for private use in Nigeria.

Keywords: Funding, policing, Nigeria Police Force, corruption.

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Authors: Elham Moniri, Homayon Ahmad Panahi, Mahshid Nikpour Nezhati, Faranak Mahmoudi, Meghdad Karimi

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A new chelating resin is prepared by coupling Amberlite XAD-4 with 1-amino-2-naphthole through an azo spacer. The resulting sorbent has been characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and studied for preconcentrating of Cu (II) using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) for metal monitoring. The optimum pH value for sorption of the copper ions was 6.5. The resin was subjected to evaluation through batch binding of mentioned metal ion. Quantitative desorption occurs instantaneously with 0.5 M HNO3. The sorption capacity was found 4.8 mmol.g-1 of resin for Cu (II) in the aqueous solution. The chelating resin can be reused for 10 cycles of sorption-desorption without any significant change in sorption capacity. A recovery of 99% was obtained the metal ions with 0.5 M HNO3 as eluting agent. The method was applied for metal ions determination from industrial waste water sample.

Keywords: Amberlite XAD-4; Copper (II); Flame atomicabsorption; Chelator; 1-amino-2- naphthole

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Authors: Neville Fernandes, Satish Shenoy B., Raghuvir Pai B., Rammohan S. Pai B, Shrikanth Rao.D

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This research details a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach to model fluid flow in a journal bearing with 8 equispaced semi-circular axial grooves. Water is used as the lubricant and is fed from one end of the bearing to the other, under pressure. The geometry of the bearing is modeled using a commercially available modeling software GAMBIT and the flow analysis is performed using a dedicated CFD analysis software FLUENT. The pressure distribution in the bearing clearance is obtained from FLUENT for various whirl ratios and is used to calculate the hydrodynamic force components in the radial and tangential direction of the bearing. These values along with the various whirl speeds can be used to do a regression analysis to determine the stiffness and damping coefficients. The values obtained are then compared with the stiffness and damping coefficients of a 3 Axial groove water lubricated journal bearing and those obtained from a FORTRAN code for a similar bearing.

Keywords: CFD, multiple axial groove, Water lubricated, Stiffness and Damping Coefficients.

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Authors: F. Zarrabi, J. R. Brown

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Although English is not a second language in Iran, it has become an inseparable part of many Iranian people’s lives and is becoming more and more widespread. This high demand has caused a significant increase in the number of private English language institutes in Iran. Although English is a compulsory course in schools and universities, the majority of Iranian people are unable to communicate easily in English. This paper reviews the current state of teaching and learning English as an international language in Iran. Attitudes and motivations about learning English are reviewed. Five different aspects of using English within the country are analysed, including: English in public domain, English in Media, English in organizations/businesses, English in education, and English in private language institutes. Despite the time and money spent on English language courses in private language institutes, the majority of learners seem to forget what has been learned within months of completing their course. That is, when they are students with the support of the teacher and formal classes, they appear to make progress and use English more or less fluently. When this support is removed, their language skills either stagnant or regress. The findings of this study suggest that a dependant approach to learning is potentially one of the main reasons for English language learning problems and this is encouraged by English course books and approaches to teaching.

Keywords: English in Iran, English language learning, English language teaching, evaluation.

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Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

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The objectives of this research was to design and develop a quality management of the school buildings and environment. A quantitative and qualitative mixed research methodology was used. The population sample included 14 directors of primary schools. Two research tools were used. The first research tool included an in-depth interview and questionnaire. The second research tool included the Quality Business Process and Quality Work Procedure, and a Key Performance Indicator of each activity. The statistics included mean and standard deviation. The findings for the development of a quality management process of buildings and environment administration of the basic schools consisted of one quality business process (QBP) and seven quality work processes (QWP). The result from the experts’ evaluation revealed that the process and implementation of quality management of the school buildings and environment has passed the inspection process with consensus. This implies that the process of quality management of the school buildings and environment is suitable for implementation. Moreover, the level of agreement in the feasibility of the implementation of this plan had the mean in the range of 0.64-1.00 which suggests the design of the new plan is acceptable.

Keywords: Process, Building, Environment.

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Authors: Obaidullah Nadeem, Rizwan Hameed

Abstract:

The preparation of good-quality Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports contribute to enhancing overall effectiveness of EIA. This component of the EIA process becomes more important in situation where public participation is weak and there is lack of expertise on the part of the competent authority. In Pakistan, EIA became mandatory for every project likely to cause adverse environmental impacts from July 1994. The competent authority also formulated guidelines for preparation and review of EIA reports in 1997. However, EIA is yet to prove as a successful decision support tool to help in environmental protection. One of the several reasons of this ineffectiveness is the generally poor quality of EIA reports. This paper critically reviews EIA reports of some randomly selected projects. Interviews of EIA consultants, project proponents and concerned government officials have also been conducted to underpin the root causes of poor quality of EIA reports. The analysis reveals several inadequacies particularly in areas relating to identification, evaluation and mitigation of key impacts and consideration of alternatives. The paper identifies some opportunities and suggests measures for improving the quality of EIA reports and hence making EIA an effective tool to help in environmental protection.

Keywords: Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA Guidelines, EIA Reports, Pakistan.

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Authors: M. Moeinaddini, Z. Asadi-Shekari, M. Zaly Shah, A. Hamzah

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Currently, planners try to have more green travel options to decrease economic, social and environmental problems. Therefore, this study tries to find significant urban travel factors to be used to increase the usage of alternative urban travel modes. This paper attempts to identify the relationship between prominent urban mobility indicators and daily trips by public transport in 30 cities from various parts of the world. Different travel modes, infrastructures and cost indicators were evaluated in this research as mobility indicators. The results of multi-linear regression analysis indicate that there is a significant relationship between mobility indicators and the daily usage of public transport.

Keywords: Green travel modes, urban travel indicators, daily trips by public transport, multi-linear regression analysis.

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Authors: Yingying Ding

Abstract:

This study presents a methodology of specialized translation with the objective of helping teachers to improve the strategies in teaching translation. In order to allow students to acquire skills to translate specialized texts, they need to become familiar with the semantic and syntactic features of source texts and target texts. The aim of our study is to use a corpus-based approach in the teaching of specialized translation between Chinese and Italian. This study proposes to construct a specialized Chinese - Italian comparable corpus that consists of 50 economic contracts from the domain of food. With the help of AntConc, we propose to compile a comparable corpus in for translation teaching purposes. This paper attempts to provide insight into how teachers could benefit from comparable corpus in the teaching of specialized translation from Italian into Chinese and through some examples of passive sentences how students could learn to apply different strategies for translating appropriately the voice.

Keywords: Corpus-based approach, translation teaching, specialized translation.

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Authors: T. Basitah

Abstract:

This study was to explore and utilize the fresh rind of mangosteen Index Colour 5 as an upcoming raw material for the production of natural dyes. Rind from the fresh mangosteen Index Colour 5 was utilized to extract the dyes. The established extracts were experimented on silk fabrics via three types of mordanting and dyeing procedures; pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and post-mordanting. As a result, the applications of the freeze-drying methodology and mechanizable equipment have helped to produce excellent range of natural colours. Silk fabric treated simultaneously with mordanting and dyeing with extract dye Index Colour 5 produced a brilliant shade of the red colour and the colour from this index is also discovered sensitive to light and washing during the fastness tests. The preliminary evaluation and instrumentation analysis allowed us to examine whether the application of different mordanting and dyeing procedures with the same extract samples and concentrations affected the colours and shades of the fabric samples.

Keywords: Natural dye, Freeze-drying, Garcinia mangostana Linn, Mordanting.

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Authors: Khalid A. Al-Afandy, El-Sayyed El-Rabaie, Osama Salah, Ahmed El-Mhalaway

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This paper presents a high secure data hiding technique using image cropping and Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography. The predefined certain secret coordinate crops will be extracted from the cover image. The secret text message will be divided into sections. These sections quantity is equal the image crops quantity. Each section from the secret text message will embed into an image crop with a secret sequence using LSB technique. The embedding is done using the cover image color channels. Stego image is given by reassembling the image and the stego crops. The results of the technique will be compared to the other state of art techniques. Evaluation is based on visualization to detect any degradation of stego image, the difficulty of extracting the embedded data by any unauthorized viewer, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio of stego image (PSNR), and the embedding algorithm CPU time. Experimental results ensure that the proposed technique is more secure compared with the other traditional techniques.

Keywords: Steganography, stego, LSB, crop.

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Authors: P Chockalingam, K Kok, R Vijayaram

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This paper presents a comparative study on dry and wet grinding through experimental investigation in the grinding of CSM glass fibre reinforced polymer laminates using a pink aluminium oxide wheel. Different sets of experiments were performed to study the effects of the independent grinding parameters such as grinding wheel speed, feed and depth of cut on dependent performance criteria such as cutting forces and surface finish. Experimental conditions were laid out using design of experiment central composite design. An effective coolant was sought in this study to minimise cutting forces and surface roughness for GFRP laminates grinding. Test results showed that the use of coolants reduces surface roughness, although not necessarily the cutting forces. These research findings provide useful economic machining solution in terms of optimized grinding conditions for grinding CSM GFRP.

Keywords: Chopped Strand Mat GFRP laminates, Dry and Wet Grinding, Cutting Forces, Surface Finish.

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Authors: Roman Asatryan

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The decision-making processes in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among firms in the airlines industry borders on the benefits that accrue to firms through those investments. The crux of the matter is how firms can quantify the benefits derived from such investments. This paper analyses the cost benefit adjustment strategies for firms in the airline industry in their CSR strategy adoption and implementation. The paper discusses the CBA model in order to understand the ways airlines can reduce costs and increase returns on CSR, or balance the cost and benefits. The analysis indicates that, economic concepts especially the CBA are useful, though they are not without challenges. This paper concludes that the CBA model gives a basic understanding of the motivations for investing in intangible assets like CSR. It sets the tone for formulating relevant hypothesis in empirical studies in investment in CSR and other intangible assets in business operations.

Keywords: Cost Benefit Analysis, Corporate Social Responsibility, airline industry.

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Authors: H. Yousefnia, S. Zolghadri, A. Golabi Dezfuli

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Abstract—[Tris (1,10-phenanthroline) lanthanum(III)] trithiocyanate is a new compound that has shown high ability for stopping the synthesis of DNA and also acting as a photosensitizer. Nowadays, the radiation dose assessment resource (RADAR) method is known as the most common method for absorbed dose calculation. 177Lu was produced by (n, gamma) reaction in a research reactor. 177Lu-PL3 was prepared in the optimized condition. The radiochemical yield was checked by ITLC method. The biodistribution of the complex was investigated by intravenously injection to wild-type rats via their tail veins. In this study, the absorbed dose of 177Lu-PL3 to human organs was estimated by RADAR method. 177Lu was prepared with a specific activity of 2.6-3 GBq.mg-1 and radionuclide purity of 99.98 %. Final preparation of the radiolabelled complex showed high radiochemical purity of > 99%. The results show that liver and spleen have received the highest absorbed dose of 1.051 and 0.441 mSv/MBq, respectively. The absorbed dose values for these two dose-limiting tissues suggest more biological studies special in tumor-bearing animals.

Keywords: Internal dosimetry, Lutetium-177, radar.

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Authors: Mona Lisa M. Oliveira, Nara A. Policarpo, Ana Luiza B. P. Barros, Carla A. Silva

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Selective catalytic reduction systems for nitrogen oxides reduction by ammonia has been the chosen technology by most of diesel vehicle (i.e. bus and truck) manufacturers in Brazil, as also in Europe. Furthermore, at some conditions, over-stoichiometric ammonia availability is also needed that increases the NH₃ slips even more. Ammonia (NH₃) by this vehicle exhaust aftertreatment system provides a maximum efficiency of NOx removal if a significant amount of NH₃ is stored on its catalyst surface. In the other words, the practice shows that slightly less than 100% of the NOx conversion is usually targeted, so that the aqueous urea solution hydrolyzes to NH₃ via other species formation, under relatively low temperatures. This paper presents a model based on neural networks integrated with a road vehicle simulator that allows to estimate NH₃-slip emission factors for different driving conditions and patterns. The proposed model generates high NH₃slips which are not also limited in Brazil, but more efforts needed to be made to elucidate the contribution of vehicle-emitted NH₃ to the urban atmosphere.

Keywords: Ammonia slip, neural-network, vehicles emissions, SCR-NOx.

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Authors: A. Hemmati, H. Mirsaeedghazi, M. Aboonajmi

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Carrot juice is one of the most nutritious foods that are consumed around the world. Large particles in carrot juice causing turbid appearance make some problems in the concentration process such as off-flavor due to the large particles burnt on the walls of evaporators. Microfiltration (MF) is a pressure driven membrane separation method that can clarify fruit juices without enzymatic treatment. Fouling is the main problem in the membrane process causing reduction of permeate flux. Ultrasound as a cleaning technique was applied at 20 kHz to reduce fouling in membrane clarification of carrot juice using dead-end MF system with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. Results showed that application of ultrasound waves reduce diphasic characteristic of carrot juice and permeate flux increased. Evaluation of different membrane fouling mechanisms showed that application of ultrasound waves changed creation time of each fouling mechanism. Also, its behavior was changed with varying transmembrane pressure.

Keywords: Carrot juice, dead end, microfiltration, ultrasound.

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Authors: Mohammed Mustapha Alhaji, Salawu Sadiku

Abstract:

A clay soil classified as A-7-6 and CH soil according to AASHTO and unified soil classification system respectively, was stabilized using A-3 soil (AASHTO soil classification system). The clay soil was replaced with 0%, 10%, 20%, to 100% A-3 soil, compacted at both British Standard Light (BSL) and British Standard Heavy (BSH) compaction energy levels and using Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) as evaluation criteria. The Maximum Dry Density (MDD) of the treated soils at both the BSL and BSH compaction energy levels showed increase from 0% to 40% A-3 soil replacement after which the values reduced to 100% replacement. The trend of the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) with varied A-3 soil replacement was similar to that of MDD but in a reversed order. The OMC reduced from 0% to 40% A-3 soil replacement after which the values increased to 100% replacement. This trend was attributed to the observed reduction in void ratio from 0% to 40% replacement after which the void ratio increased to 100% replacement. The maximum UCS for the soil at varied A-3 soil replacement increased from 272 and 770 kN/m2 for BSL and BSH compaction energy level at 0% replacement to 295 and 795 kN/m2 for BSL and BSH compaction energy level respectively at 10% replacement after which the values reduced to 22 and 60 kN/m2 for BSL and BSH compaction energy level respectively at 70% replacement. Beyond 70% replacement, the mixtures could not be moulded for UCS test.

Keywords: A-3 soil, clay soil, pozzolanic action, stabilization.

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Authors: M. Sajjadnejad, H. Karimi Abadeh

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In this research, zinc coatings were fabricated by electroplating process in a sulfate solution under direct and pulse current conditions. In direct and pulse current conditions, effect of maximum current was investigated on the coating properties. Also a comparison was made between the obtained coatings under direct and pulse current. Morphology of the coatings was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Corrosion behavior of the coatings was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization test. In pulse current conditions, the effect of pulse frequency and duty cycle was also studied. The effect of these conditions and parameters were also investigated on morphology and corrosion behavior. All of DC plated coatings are showing a distinct passivation area in -1 to -0.4 V range. Pulsed current coatings possessed a higher corrosion resistance. The results showed that current density is the most important factor regarding the fabrication process. Furthermore, a rise in duty cycle deteriorated corrosion resistance of coatings. Pulsed plated coatings performed almost 10 times better than DC plated coatings.

Keywords: Corrosion, duty cycle, pulsed current, zinc.

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Authors: Mario Spremić, Natalija Kokolek, Božidar Jaković, Jurica Šimurina

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This paper deals with various questions related to functionality and providing banking services in the European union on the Internet. Due to the fact that we live in the information technologies era, the Internet become a new space for doing economic and business activities in all areas, and especially important in banking. Accepting the busy tempo of life, in the past several years electronic banking has become necessity and a must for most users of banking services. On a sample of 300 web sites of the banks operating in European Union (EU) we conduct the research on the functionality of e-banking services offered through banks web sites with the key objective to reveal to what extent the information technologies are used in their business operations. Characteristics of EU banks websites will be examined and compared to the basic groups of business activities on the web. Also some recommendations for the successful bank web sites will be provided.

Keywords: Electronic banking, electronic business, European Union banks, internet.

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Authors: D. Cardone

Abstract:

Past earthquakes have shown that seismic events may incur large economic losses in buildings. FEMA P-58 provides engineers a practical tool for the performance seismic assessment of buildings. In this study, FEMA P-58 is applied to two typical Italian pre-1970 reinforced concrete frame buildings, characterized by plain rebars as steel reinforcement and masonry infills and partitions. Given that suitable tools for these buildings are missing in FEMA P- 58, specific fragility curves and loss functions are first developed. Next, building performance is evaluated following a time-based assessment approach. Finally, expected annual losses for the selected buildings are derived and compared with past applications to old RC frame buildings representative of the US building stock. 

Keywords: FEMA P-58, RC frame buildings, plain rebars, masonry infills, fragility functions, loss functions, expected annual loss.

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Authors: Dongfang Qiu, Yilin Lu

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The measurement of enterprise-university-research cooperative efficiency has important meanings in improving the cooperative efficiency, strengthening the effective integration of regional resource, enhancing the ability of regional innovation and promoting the development of regional economy. The paper constructs the DEA method and DEA-Malmquist productivity index method to research the cooperation efficiency of Hubei by making comparisons with other provinces in China. The study found out the index of technology efficiency is 0.52 and the enterprise-universityresearch cooperative efficiency is Non-DEA efficient. To realize the DEA efficiency of Hubei province, the amount of 1652.596 R&D employees and 638.368 R&D employees’ full time equivalence should be reduced or 137.89 billion yuan of new products’ sales income be increased. Finally, it puts forward policy recommendations on existing problems to strengthen the standings of the cooperation, realize the effective application of the research results, and improve the level of management of enterprise-university-research cooperation efficiency.

Keywords: Cooperation Ability, DEA Method, Enterprise-university-research Cooperation, Malmquist Efficiency Index.

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Authors: I. Derek Kaka’an, P. Smolianov, D. Koh Choon Lian, S. Dion, C. Schoen, J. Norberg

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This study was designed to examine mass participation and elite football performance in Nigeria with reference to advance international football management practices. Over 200 sources of literature on sport delivery systems were analyzed to construct a globally applicable model of elite football integrated with mass participation, comprising of the following three levels: macro- (socio-economic, cultural, legislative, and organizational), meso- (infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs) and micro-level (operations, processes, and methodologies for development of individual athletes). The model has received scholarly validation and showed to be a framework for program analysis that is not culturally bound. The Smolianov and Zakus model has been employed for further understanding of sport systems such as US soccer, US Rugby, swimming, tennis, and volleyball as well as Russian and Dutch swimming. A questionnaire was developed using the above-mentioned model. Survey questions were validated by 12 experts including academicians, executives from sport governing bodies, football coaches, and administrators. To identify best practices and determine areas for improvement of football in Nigeria, 120 coaches completed the questionnaire. Useful exemplars and possible improvements were further identified through semi-structured discussions with 10 Nigerian football administrators and experts. Finally, content analysis of Nigeria Football Federation’s website and organizational documentation was conducted. This paper focuses on the meso-level of Nigerian football delivery, particularly infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs. This includes training centers, competition systems, and intellectual services. Results identified remarkable achievements coupled with great potential to further develop football in different types of public and private organizations in Nigeria. These include: assimilating football competitions with other cultural and educational activities, providing favorable conditions for employees of all possible organizations to partake and help in managing football programs and events, providing football coaching integrated with counseling for prevention of antisocial conduct, and improving cooperation between football programs and organizations for peace-making and advancement of international relations, tourism, and socio-economic development. Accurate reporting of the sports programs from the media should be encouraged through staff training for better awareness of various events. The systematic integration of these meso-level practices into the balanced development of mass and high-performance football will contribute to international sport success as well as national health, education, and social harmony.

Keywords: Football, high performance, mass participation, Nigeria, sport development.

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Authors: Ali Zifan, Panos Liatsis, Panagiotis Kantartzis, Manolis Gavaises, Nicos Karcanias, Demosthenes Katritsis

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We present a new method for the fully automatic 3D reconstruction of the coronary artery centerlines, using two X-ray angiogram projection images from a single rotating monoplane acquisition system. During the first stage, the input images are smoothed using curve evolution techniques. Next, a simple yet efficient multiscale method, based on the information of the Hessian matrix, for the enhancement of the vascular structure is introduced. Hysteresis thresholding using different image quantiles, is used to threshold the arteries. This stage is followed by a thinning procedure to extract the centerlines. The resulting skeleton image is then pruned using morphological and pattern recognition techniques to remove non-vessel like structures. Finally, edge-based stereo correspondence is solved using a parallel evolutionary optimization method based on f symbiosis. The detected 2D centerlines combined with disparity map information allow the reconstruction of the 3D vessel centerlines. The proposed method has been evaluated on patient data sets for evaluation purposes.

Keywords: Vessel enhancement, centerline extraction, symbiotic reconstruction.

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Authors: Fuad H. Veliev

Abstract:

Negative pressure phenomenon appears in many thermodynamic, geophysical and biophysical processes in the Nature and technological systems. For more than 100 years of the laboratory researches beginning from F. M. Donny’s tests, the great values of negative pressure have been achieved. But this phenomenon has not been practically applied, being only a nice lab toy due to the special demands for the purity and homogeneity of the liquids for its appearance. The possibility of creation of direct wave of negative pressure in real heterogeneous liquid systems was confirmed experimentally under the certain kinetic and hydraulic conditions. The negative pressure can be considered as the factor of both useful and destroying energies. The new approach to generation of the negative pressure waves in impure, unclean fluids has allowed the creation of principally new energy saving technologies and installations to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of different production processes. It was proved that the negative pressure is one of the main factors causing hard troubles in some technological and natural processes. Received results emphasize the necessity to take into account the role of the negative pressure as an energy factor in evaluation of many transient thermohydrodynamic processes in the Nature and production systems.

Keywords: Liquid systems, negative pressure, temperature, wave, metastable state.

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Authors: Ion Smeureanu, Adriana Reveiu, Marian Dardala, Titus Felix Furtuna, Roman Kanala

Abstract:

This paper proposes a linear model for optimizing domestic energy consumption in Romania. The particularity of the model is that it is putting in competition both tangible technologies and thermal insulation projects with different financing modes. The model is optimizing the energy system by minimizing the global discounted cost in household sector, by integrating residential lighting, space heating, hot water, combined space heating – hot water, as well as space cooling, in a monolithic model. Another demand sector included is the passenger transport. This paper focuses on space heating part, analyzing technical and economic issues related to investment decisions to envelope and insulate buildings, in order to minimize energy consumption.

Keywords: Consumer behavior, energy modelling, Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS), MARKAL/TIMES Romanian energy model.

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